Last night, the Gophers nearly lost to a terrible UNLV team. Sure it was on the road, and sure it was the season opener and sure it was very late at night, but it’s pretty clear that Gophers fans are in for a rough time this season. Despite the fact that they have an excellent coach in Jerry Kill, and the fact that they have a senior quarterback, I see no possible way the Gophers are going to be competitive this year.
Is there hope for the future, though?
The way I see it there are two serious road blocks if the Gophers ever want to become a respectable football program ever again. 1) Their location, or 2) their tradition. These two serious issues are closely tied together, but let’s examine them both more closely.
Think of where the most in house high school football talent comes from. California, Texas, Florida and the southeast. The SEC, as well as Texas, Florida and California schools are usually near the top of college football, because kids don’t want to stray too far from home. Look at the top 25 going into this season: 11 teams fit that category, and Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Clemson would make it 14, though they don’t specifically fit the prescribed categories, they are good for the same reason.
Minnesota has a reputation, accurate or not, that it is cold and desolate, hardly the destination a kid growing up in the heat of west Texas or south Florida wants to experience if he has the choice of any other school in the country. Go to Miami or USC or Texas with your friends, and all the pretty girls! Why would you want to freeze your ass off in the middle of winter? Minnesota hasn’t produced enough home grown talent to pull itself out of the mire, and when it does, that talent goes to Notre Dame or Wisconsin.
Ah, yes, Notre Dame. Wisconsin. How did they get to where they are? It starts with a reputation, as it did with Notre Dame and their academic strength, and thanks in no small part to their continuous national coverage. It was the national team, and the team for Catholics everywhere (which is why Michael Floyd from Cretin Derham Hall was so heavily recruited, and ended up attending Notre Dame). Other places in the northern US that have been able to maintain a strong football program, like Wisconsin, Nebraska or Ohio State, have a tradition of winning to build on. These school have continued to win, and success breeds success. Kids want to play for winners (if playing close to home isn’t their first option). Of course, the teams that ARE winners are the teams that started with talented home grown players. See how the issues are closely tied together?
Of course, there are a couple schools who don’t fit this mold. They aren’t located in environments that are havens for football talent, and they don’t have a long history of success. What they do have, however, is a cool factor. They have something working for them that makes their recruiting unique, if nothing else. Oregon and Boise State are the schools I am thinking of. Oregon recruits know they will be testing the newest gear from Nike. Boise State knows they are building a new program, but you have to give credit to their initial recruiting to that blue turf. It’s quirky, and it struck a cord early on.
If Minnesota ever wants a good college football team, they need to strike it rich somehow. They need a bumper crop of locally grown talent that wants to stay at home, or to develop some sort of appealing quirk that draws in interest. Otherwise, I can’t imagine spending a harsh winter playing for a bad football team will ever be popular.
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